Diferenciação da qualidade do café torrado e moído: influência da informação e do perfil do consumidor

Abstract

The quality of a product exerts an intense influence on the purchase intention of the consumer, therefore, the factors that aid the identification of attributes have been studied to facilitate such decision. Because coffee is a product of wide and diversified production, commercialization and consumption worldwide, there is a high variability in the quality of roasted and ground coffee marketed. This fact together with the scarcity of information on the packaging related to quality has a high impact on the decision-making power of consumers, which, in addition to the habit of consumption, are influenced by the price of the product. It is emphasized that the sensorial senses can interfere in the consumer's behavior and contribute to the perception of the quality of products, therefore it is possible that the fragrance of roasted and ground coffee is an auxiliary tool in the act of purchase. The objective of this research was to verify if the fragrance of roasted and ground coffee can be a factor of quality differentiation at the time of purchase. For this, a market research was applied to verify coffee concepts for consumers. Subsequently, the check-all-that-apply and 9-point hedonic scale tests were applied in public places in the city of Lavras, MG, Brazil. The sensorial test was performed in two stages, one without and another with information related to the quality characteristics of the product focus of the study. Thus, it was concluded that the criteria of coffee consumers are focused on the quality of the product, such as flavor, aroma, provenance and certification that seek new ways to evaluate such criteria or even the product at the time of purchase. The use of coffee powder fragrance may be an alternative for product quality differentiation and its function can be intensified by passing information on quality attributes to consumers. The preference for the different profiles analyzed (income, age and sex) were for hard and soft drink coffees and the information positively influenced only the high income and female consumers.